UNM's new architecture building raises spirits as well as a few eyebrows

By Simon McCormack

Over the past three decades, the University of New Mexico's architecture students have had to travel off campus to visit their school's architecture buildings. All three offer constant reminders, such as their sub-par compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, that they are unfit to house the only architecture school in the state.

It was almost irresistible as a target for smart-aleck punditry. “The New Mexico Regional Spaceport” just sounds like some sort of setup for a comic strip punchline. Toss in the virtually empty location selected for it near “Upham,” a railroad junction southeast of “Truth or Consequences” and not far from “Hatch,” and you practically have a SNL skit writing itself, laugh track included.

Although perhaps there should be

By Simon McCormack

With Super Bowl XL upon us--or “Super Bowl Extra-Large” as it's hilariously referred to by many a half-witted color commentator--it's time for us to take a serious look at the direction that professional sports are taking.

Dateline: England—A British dentist has been banned from working in the tooth-cleaning profession after allowing her unqualified boyfriend to carry out dental work on more than 600 patients. Mojgan Azari was found guilty of serious professional misconduct for letting her boyfriend Omid Amidi-Mazaheri work at her dental surgery clinic in South London between 2002 and 2003. According to the BBC, Amidi-Mazaheri drilled out cavities without local anesthetic and installed expensive fillings that crumbled within days, leaving patients in agony. The General Dental Council said that Azari had allowed him to carry on working in her surgeries for seven months after she had been warned that he was unregistered. “This caused the patients considerable distress and inconvenience and cost the National Health Service approximately 180,000 pounds [$424,000],” the GDC said in its ruling. Last year, Azari pled guilty to four counts of obtaining money by deception in relation to the case and was jailed for 12 months. The BBC said Amidi-Mazaheri, an Iranian national, received a two-year sentence for similar offenses. The GDC's conduct committee ruled last week to strike Azari's name from the register.

I, too, like your previous correspondent, Brian Fejer of Albuquerque [Letters, “Impeach Them All,” Jan. 19-25], wrote to Heather Wilson concerning the impeachment of President George "WMD" Bush, and was equally offended at her dismissive response. She actually responded with the standard little form letter thanking me for my "message about Harriet Mier's nomination to be an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States." I didn't even mention that ridiculous nomination in my letter, although Heather "Just Roll Me Over and Take What You Want" Wilson kindly explained nonetheless that "Article II, section 2, paragraph 2 of the U.S. Constitution gives the Senate responsibility for considering and confirming the President's executive and judicial nominations. The House of Representatives does not vote to confirm the President's nominations," another way of saying, "I have nothing to say regarding this, because it's not my responsibility—it's the Senate's." It's hard to believe someone who has so little respect for her constituents that she won't even send back the correct standardized form answer to their honest inquiries was ever properly elected to Congress. Has she ever actually done anything for anybody in New Mexico, or is she just another Republican-aligned hack with a vote to sell that New Mexico needs to get rid of? The day they dismiss our letters and our concerns is the day we should dismiss them as our representatives in Congress.